Muscle depletion and sarcopenic obesity are related to a higher morbimortality risk in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We evaluated bed-side measures/indexes associated with low muscle mass, sarcopenia, obesity, and sarcopenic obesity in CKD and proposed cutoffs for each parameter. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People revised consensus applying dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and hand grip strength (HGS), and obesity according to the International Society for Clinical Densitometry. Anthropometric parameters including calf (CC) and waist (WC) circumferences and WC/height (WC/H); bioelectrical impedance data including appendicular fat free mass (AFFM) and fat mass index (FMI) were assessed. ROC analysis and area under the curve (AUC) were applied for performance analyses. AFFM and CC presented the best performances for low muscle mass diagnosis–AFFM AUC for women was 0.96 and for men, 0.94, and CC AUC for women was 0.89 and for men, 0.85. FMI and WC/H were the best parameters for obesity diagnosis–FMI AUC for women was 0.99 and for men, 0.96, and WC/H AUC for women was 0.94 and for men, 0.95. The cutoffs (sensibility and specificity, respectively) for women were AFFM≤15.87 (90%; 96%), CC≤35.5 (76%; 94%), FMI>12.58 (100%; 93%), and WC/H>0.66 (91%; 84%); and for men, AFFM≤21.43 (98%; 84%), CC≤37 (88%; 69%), FMI>8.82 (93%; 88%), and WC/H>0.60 (95%; 80%). Sensibility and specificity for sarcopenia diagnosis were for AFFM+HGS in women 85% and 99% and in men, 100% and 99%; for CC+HGS in women 85% and 99% and in men, 100% and 100%; and for sarcopenic obesity were for FMI+AFFM in women 75% and 97% and in men, 75% and 95%. The tested bed-side measures/indexes presented excellent performance.

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Background There is scarce evidence on fourth doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We have evaluated the humoral response and effectivity of the fourth dose in the CKD spectrum: non-dialysis CKD (ND-CKD), hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and kidney transplant (KT) recipients. Methods This is a prespecified analysis of the prospective, observational, multicentric SENCOVAC study. In patients with CKD who had received a complete initial vaccination and one or two boosters and had anti-Spike antibody determinations 6 and 12 months after the initial vaccination, we analyzed factors associated to persistent negative humoral response and to higher anti-Spike antibody titers as well as the efficacy of vaccination on COVID-19 severity. Results Of 2186 patients (18% KT, 8% PD, 69% HD and 5% ND-CKD), 30% had received a fourth dose. The fourth dose increased anti-Spike antibody titers in HD (P = 0.001) and ND-CKD (P = 0.014) patients and seroconverted 72% of previously negative patients. Higher anti-Spike antibody titers at 12 months were independently associated to repeated exposure to antigen (fourth dose, previous breakthrough infections), previous anti-Spike antibody titers and not being a KT. Breakthrough COVID-19 was registered in 137 (6%) patients, of whom 5% required admission. Admitted patients had prior titers below 620 UI/ml and median values were lower (P = 0.020) than in non-admitted patients. Conclusions A fourth vaccine dose increased anti-Spike antibody titers or seroconverted many CKD patients, but those with the highest need for a vaccine booster (i.e. those with lower pre-booster antibody titers or KT recipients) derived the least benefit in terms of antibody titers. Admission for breakthrough COVID-19 was associated with low anti-Spike antibody titers.

The eects of physical conditioning on antipyrine clearance were studied in two groups of subjects. Healthy men not engaged in the systematic practice of any sport were compared with endurance runners (de®ned as men running >80 km/week). Studies were carried out at three dierent periods of the annual plan training at 4-month intervals. Antipyrine was administered orally and pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained from saliva samples by the multiple-sample method. Endurance performance, expressed in terms of the maximal oxygen uptake ( O 2 max ), the ventilatory threshold and the 4-mM á l A1 lactate threshold (OBLA), was higher in trained than in control subjects at each of the three periods. Antipyrine clearance was also signi®-cantly elevated and antipyrine half-life reduced in runners during all periods. No signi®cant dierence in O 2 max or antipyrine clearance was found between the various periods in either trained or control subjects. Both ventilatory threshold and OBLA increased significantly along the training period in conditioned subjects. Signi®cant correlations were found between antipyrine clearance and O 2 max , ventilatory threshold and OBLA. In summary, these results indicate an association between aerobic conditioning and increased hepatic oxidative metabolism of low-clearance drugs.

Introduction Patients on hemodialysis are at high-risk for complications derived from coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). The present analysis evaluated the impact of a booster vaccine dose and breakthrough severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections on humoral immunity three months after the booster dose. Methods This is a multicentric and prospective study assessing IgG anti-Spike antibodies 6 and 9 months after initial SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients on hemodialysis that had also received a booster dose before the 6-month assessment (early booster) or between the 6- and 9-month assessments (late booster). The impact of breakthrough infections, type of vaccine, time from the booster and clinical variables were assessed. Results A total of 711 patients (67% male, 67 [20-89] years) were included. Of which, 545 (77%) received an early booster and the rest a late booster. At 6 months, 64 (9%) patients had negative anti-Spike antibody titers (3% of early booster and 29% of late booster patients, p = 0.001). At 9 months, 91% of patients with 6-month negative response had seroconverted and there were no differences in residual prevalence of negative humoral response between early and late booster patients (0.9% vs 0.6%, p = 0.693). During follow-up, 35 patients (5%) developed breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection. Antibody titers at 9 months were independently associated to mRNA-1273 booster (p = 0.001), lower time from booster (p = 0.043) and past breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection (p<0.001). Conclusions In hemodialysis patients, higher titers of anti-Spike antibodies at 9 months were associated to mRNA-1273 booster, lower time from booster and past breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background Kidney replacement therapy (KRT) confers the highest risk of death from COVID-19. However, most data refer to the early pandemic waves. Whole year analysis in comparison with prior secular trends are scarce. Methods We present the 2020 REMER Madrid KRT registry, corresponding to the Spanish Region hardest hit by COVID-19. Results In 2020, KRT incidence decreased 12% versus 2019 while KRT prevalence decreased (−1.75%) for the first time since records began and the number of kidney transplants (KT) decreased by 16%. Mortality on KRT was 10.2% (34% higher than the mean for 2008–2019). The 2019 to 2020 increase in mortality was larger for KT (+68%) than for HD (+24%) or PD (+38%). The most common cause of death was infection (n = 419, 48% of deaths), followed by cardiovascular (200, 23%). Deaths from infection increased by 167% year over year and accounted for 95% of excess deaths in 2020 over 2019. COVID-19 was the most common cause of death (68% of infection deaths, 33% of total deaths). The bulk of COVID-19 deaths (209/285, 73%) occurred during the first COVID-19 wave, which roughly accounted for the increased mortality in 2020. Being a KT recipient was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 death. Conclusions COVID-19 negatively impacted the incidence and prevalence of KRT, but the increase in KRT deaths was localized to the first wave of the pandemic. The increased annual mortality argues against COVID-19 accelerating death of patients with short life expectancy and the temporal pattern of COVID-19 mortality suggests that appropriate healthcare may improve outcomes.

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